Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Jean Grey Recycles The Story Of A Powerful Marvel Villain
Contains spoilers for "Spider-Man: Brand New Day"
After numerous clues that Sadie Sink is playing Jean Grey in "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," the suspicions have been confirmed. Sink's Marvel Cinematic Universe take on the original X-Men roster member is a compelling character. However, eagle-eyed MCU fans may also note that many of Jean's character beats in the movie have been done before.
In many ways, the "Brand New Day" arc of Jean Elaine Grey follows that of the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in the "WandaVision" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" era. Apart from the superficial notion of both characters being charismatic redheads, they're both anti-villains who are driven to desperate extremes by the loss of a loved one — Sara Grey (Olivia Booth-Ford) and Vision (Paul Bettany), respectively. Both characters have mind control powers that enable them to control other people like puppets, and both deal with crushing loneliness in their own ways.
As Jean displays in the third act of the excellent "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and Wanda shows on "WandaVision," both characters can create massive energy bubbles and put the people stuck inside them under their powers. Oh, and neither of them is an unequivocal villain. While they repeatedly use their powers in incredibly unethical ways, both Jean and Wanda are ultimately portrayed in a sympathetic light.
Jean has narrative similarities with Wanda, but is her own character
Despite the similarities, there are also key differences between Wanda and Jean's tenures as dangerous MCU figures. Wanda is effectively possessed during her entire "villain phase" – first by sheer grief during "WandaVision," and then by the corrupting influence of the Darkhold in "Multiverse of Madness." She's often completely self-absorbed and willfully cruel to those who stand in her way — but when she finally understands just how far she's fallen at the end of "Multiverse of Madness," she's deeply shocked and considers her life forfeit.
Meanwhile, Jean is a more grounded figure who keeps her faculties for much of the movie, only lashing out near the end after finding out what happened to her sister Sara. Her apparent villainy is quite justified and directed entirely toward the Department of Damage Control. She only starts to torment Spider-Man after he insists on messing with her plans, and even then, a part of it seems to stem from genuine fascination toward a fellow "freak" instead of genuine antagonism. She only gets truly hostile after Spider-Man contributes to her getting caught by Damage Control, but the two mend fences after various misunderstandings are corrected and Spidey saves Jean's life.
As such, it can be argued that while Wanda and Jean would certainly find plenty of things to talk about should they ever meet over a cup of coffee, seeing them in the same room together would also quickly reveal that the two are hardly narrative clones. Jean's MCU introduction simply happens to use similar tropes as Wanda's apparent MCU exit.
"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" is now playing in theaters.